White House OKs policy on detainees, senators say

WASHINGTON — White House officials have agreed that Congress can use existing military law as the basis for developing a system for prosecuting war detainees in U.S. custody, key senators said Thursday — a position that differs from testimony earlier this week by administration lawyers.

The varying positions reflect apparent divisions within the Bush administration about the treatment of detainees as lawmakers begin reworking policies in the wake of a Supreme Court ruling last month.

The administration's civilian lawyers testified this week that Congress should retain major features of President Bush's military tribunal system, which the Supreme Court ruled was illegal. But military lawyers prefer a system more closely resembling the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which governs court-martial proceedings for U.S. service personnel.

At a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing Thursday, Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and John Warner, R-Va., said National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley told them in meetings earlier this week that he agreed with their position that the military justice code should form the basis of new legislation.

Senate votes to boost border security

The Senate voted unanimously Thursday to bolster security at U.S. borders by allocating hundreds of millions of dollars for more patrols, surveillance flights and sensors to catch illegal immigrants sneaking into the country.

All 100 Senators approved the $32.7 billion budget for Homeland Security Department next year. But they rejected proposals to boost funding for cities and states at high risk of terrorist attacks.

With border security and immigration reform a top election-year priority, the Senate also agreed to make digging tunnels under the border a felony but rejected adding 370 miles of fencing along the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border. The House has voted to add 700 miles of fencing.

Government hacker won't go to prison

A government consultant who cracked the FBI's classified computer network and learned the passwords of 38,000 employees, including that of the director, was spared a prison sentence Thursday.

U.S. District Judge Richard Leon sentenced Joseph Thomas Colon to six months of home detention after finding that the computer consultant did not try to harm national security or use the information for his own benefit or profit.

Colon, 30, pleaded guilty in March to intentionally accessing a computer while exceeding authorized access and obtaining information from any department of the United States. He could have received up to 18 months in prison.

Senate committee alters Bush's budget

The Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday cut into President Bush's budget by $2.4 billion as it approved budget increases for NASA and for crime-fighting grants to state and local governments.

Senators approved $1 billion, which Bush did not request, to pay back NASA for about half of the cost of returning the space shuttle program to flight.

The committee also rejected Bush's plan to virtually eliminate about $1.3 billion in grants to state and local governments.

The $52.2 billion bill that covers the departments of Justice and Commerce in addition to NASA won unanimous approval from the panel.

Also

Hastert: House Speaker Dennis Hastert was hospitalized Thursday for treatment of a bacterial skin infection. The Illinois Republican, 64, was expected to be treated with intravenous antibiotics at Bethesda Naval Hospital in suburban Maryland through the weekend, his spokesman said.

Compiled from the Los Angeles Times, The Associated Press and The Washington Post